Just picked my first lock

[opstand]

This is something I've always wanted to do and thanks to another poster on another message board, came across these forums. I purchased a set of 14 picks on sale from LPS.com that arrived today.

Well, I found a Master #160 lying around and have been working on it on and off throughout the evening. I finally sat down and started thinking about what was happening with the pins, picking them one by one. Wouldn't you know it opened for me!

Not a big deal for some of you vets, but I think it's pretty good to do that on you first day of trying. It was truly a Zen-like moment, almost like meditation when it happened.

Thanks for all the informative posts everyone!

[Kaellman]

Congrats! Guess what? It just keeps getting better as you pick harder locks! So keep it up !

[digital_blue]

Well now you're gonna be hooked. Welcome to the club.

Congrats and happy picking!

[opstand]

I went to Sears last night looking for a deadbolt so I could disassemble it and work on fewer pins at a time. Apparently Sears doesn't sell deadbolts anymore. Going to have to go to Lowe's Hardware this week and pick one up to play with.

So is it fairly common to break a tension wrench? My set came with 4 of them, haven't broken one yet, but I can see that it's going to happen eventually...

[digital_blue]

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So is it fairly common to break a tension wrench? My set came with 4 of them, haven't broken one yet, but I can see that it's going to happen eventually...

Um.. no. You are using *way* too much tension if you manage to break a tension wrench.

Lighten up and you'll find the picking is easier too.

Cheers!

db

[Peaky]

You will have 4 wrenches as they are probaly slightly differant,

A thinner or shorter wrench will give less torque than a thicker or longer wrench (in most cases this is a newbe),

Have a look at yours and you may find that they have differing properties,

Wrenches dont tend to break neither do picks for that matter, they tend to bend and its the constant bending back and forth that break them,

As db says dont use much tension

You may find it easier if you bounce the wrench a little (varying the tension) especially if raking a lock.

[opstand]

Ok thanks. I noticed that when I did pop the lock I was using a lot less torque than I had been earlier. I haven't broken a wrench, just asking if it's common. I did have to bend it back a time or two after the head of it twisted a little. I was using it in the bottom of the keyway and didn't know to try it up near the pins, so maybe that will help.

I think part of the problem was that by having the wrench at the bottom of the keyway, it got in the way of the pick while lifting the back pins and I didn't have as good of feel for what was going on, so I was overcompensating with torque.

I noticed that 1 of the wrenches was much narrower than the others. Two of them seem almost identical but maybe one is thicker and I haven't noticed it. One has a twist in it which makes it easier to use IMO.

[digital_blue]

The twist-flex wrench is among my favorites as well. The small wrench will definately bend a bit with too much pressure, but it bends back. Some locks will require more tension than is normal, but as a newbie, if you're going to err, err on the side of too little tension.

Cheers!

db